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Thomas Hegghammer of the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (Forsvarets forskningsinstitutt) says that Islamophobia and racism bring about a security problem. The more Norwegians hate Muslims, the more likely it will be to see Islamic violence in Norway. The more Muslims meet aggression from Norwegians, and taxi drivers have to deal with questions about Iraq and religion, the more they will become radicalized. He thinks the fear of Islam has grown in the West since Sep. 11. "It's a problem, because Islamophobia brings discrimination that again can lead to terrorism," says Hegghammer.

"We must limit Islamophobia by conducting an enlightened debate. We must distinguish between political radicalism and social conservatism. Some Muslims are strongly conservative, things like the Muhammad cartoons, the issue of women and equality, have to do with social conservatism. But when Muslims make remarks with conservative standpoints in the value debate they often get stamped as political radicals. This image must be nuanced."

Hegghammer has specialized in the Middle East and terrorism problems and has recently written an article in The Guardian about the importance of the Palestine conflict in relation to preventing recruitment of new terrorists. He says there's a widespread opinion, especially in the USA, that the Palestine conflict is not related to the war against terror, but he thinks this is a big mistake.

"The Palestine conflict is the foremost symbol of Muslims' suffering. These symbols drive the recruitment to al-Qaeda. The symbols of suffering function as examples of places where Muslims suffer under the yoke of non-Muslims. That is first and foremost Palestine, but also Chechnya, Afghanistan and Iraq is important. In addition come symbols like Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, and are used effectively by al-Qaeda's propaganda people to paint a picture of the world where non-Muslims are out to humiliate and kill as many Muslims as possible," says Heggehammer.

"When people look at what suicide bombers say or write in their wills, for example, the London bombers, they mention the whole time these symbols of suffering. They say they do this to punish Great Britain for the 'criminal acts in Afghanistan and Iraq'"

Heggehammer says it's hard to say whether the oppression is real but that many Muslims feel it is so. "There are also more Muslims who feel humiliated, discriminated and treated unjustly after Sep. 11 than before Sep 11. The feeling that Islam is persecuted and oppressed by the West by the war against terror is very widespread."

"Naturally there's a political reality at the bottom, often in the form of a real political conflict. Palestine wouldn't have been the symbol of suffering it is without the occupation, Iraq wouldn't have been a symbol of suffering without the invasion. By doing our best to solve these conflicts, we will weaken the force in these symbols. It will make the job of the radical propagandists harder again. Unfortunately today we are not doing out best to solve the Palestine conflict."

And if that doesn't succeed, people should take into consideration that many in the Islamic world feel that Muslims are persecuted and oppressed. The latter means, for example, recognizing suffering or injustice that happens and being very careful with collective accusations against Muslims that have nothing to do violent Islam. The al-Qaeda fighters who are now active will never lay down their weapons, but it can stop new recruitment among the youth.

Asghar Ali of the Islamic Council of Norway agrees completely with Hegghammer's conclusions. "Confusing social conservatism and political radicalism is, like Hegghammer says, most unfortunate. And such confusion be help increase the distance between Muslims and others in society."

"We can't exclude that Islamophobia can lead to radicalization. It can be one of several central elements that cause this."

"That al-Qaeda uses real suffering among Muslims and oppression of these in their propaganda is well-known. More important is that the West exerts itself to solve deadlocked conflicts. Unfortunate many Muslims feel that the West isn't a part of the solution, but the problem. A peace solution to the important conflicts will reduce the basis for recruitment for militant forces like al-Qaeda. A constructive dialog also works against radicalization and it's important that this work continues."

12 comments:

No, Hegghammer is not a dhimmi, he's a useful idiot.A servile, useful slave to those who are steadfast in their belief that his life is worthless, that 'killing unbelievers is a small matter'- but the West is full of traitors and ignorant fools like Hegghammer, and they will not be responsible when the slaughter begins.

For the last fourteen centuries Islam has been one of the world’s greatest religions. Born in the sands of Arabia Islam spread throughout the globe and in the Third millennium Muslims live in almost every country on Earth. Some would argue that Islam is not only a religion, but also political ideology, but they would be wrong. Islam is a religion, a relationship between a person and God. Islamism (or political Islam) is an ideology based on Islam. Islamism is what radical Muslims (or Islamic fundamentalists, or Muslim extremists, or Islamofascists, or whatever else you want to call them) preach to wage Gihad for world domination. Moderate Muslims, unlike their radical co-religionists do not believe in Islamic supremacy and global caliphate.

Islamophobia prejudice against anything Islamic. If somebody hates Muslims or Islam, he/she is an Islamophobe. If somebody hates Muslim radicals or Islamism, he/she is not. Blanket degrading of anything Islamic is Islamophobia. Rational criticism of Islam or Muslims is not.

So, up until just a few years ago Islam was just that: a religion. But since the last decade of the Second millennium Western Muslim establishment (which is overwhelmingly Islamists) together with the media (which is overwhelmingly ignorant about Islam, a very dangerous combination, have been trying to convince everyone that Islamophobia is racism, thereby crating a new race: Islam. Do not believe your own eyes. White Muslims, and black Muslims, and Asian Muslims they are all a part of Islamic race and criticizing them makes you a racist, so you’d better shut up. Nobody wants to be called a racist, therefore piggybacking on the legacy of the Civil rights Movement was a stroke of genius. Screaming "Racism!" is guaranteed to attract attention. The rationale behind "Islamophobia = racism" is simple. If you are not allowed to criticize Islamists, they can do whatever they want. Islamic terrorism? Doesn’t exist! Yes, there are some instances of terrorism perpetrated by Muslims, but that has nothing to do with Islam and to say otherwise is racist. Radical Imams preaching hatred of Christians and Jews in American mosques? Never happens! Muslim "leaders" whitewashing terrorism? How dare you, you racist scum!

Did 9/11 change anything? Not much. It took a long time for the American President to use words "Islamic" and "terrorism" in the same sentence. In the meantime, radical Muslim organizations like CAIR, ISNA, MAS, etc., insinuated themselves deep into highest levels of the American government, because denying anything to them is manifestation of racism.

So, up until a few days ago, Islam was both a religion and a race. Enter the great country of Belarus. A former Soviet republic run by a communist dictator and a clique of KGB thugs recently arrested an editor of an independent newspaper for reprinting 2005 Danish cartoons of Prophet Muhammad. He is jailed for three years for "incitement of religious and national hatred". The notion that printing some silly cartoons of a religious figure would incite religious hatred is a stretch. But national hatred? Unless, of course, on top of being a religion and a race, Islam is also a nationality.

Well, thanks to fascist KGB thugs from Belarus, now it is official. Islam is a religion, a race, and a nationality. But why stop there? On the next plenary session of Muslims Against Sharia the first item on the agenda will be: "The Gender of Islam." And why not? There are Muslims of every race, yet criticizing Islam is racism. There are Muslims of almost every nationality, yet depicting Prophet Muhammad is inciting national hatred. I'm pretty sure that there are Muslims of both genders; why not equate criticizing Islam or depicting the Prophet with sexism? So, don’t even think about criticizing us, you misogynistic pigs!

People should familiarize themselves with the life of mohammed. Violent and vengeful, mohammed's legacy of retribution, conquest, terror, and intimidation is is the opposite (anti) of Jesus Christ's message of forgiveness, freedom of choice, and redemption.

People should research this for themselves. What mohammed had to had to say about the use of deceit,deception, and dishonesty against you (the infidel, the non-muslim second class life form) is most interesting. Study the 1400 year history of Islam and you'll see that peaceful periods are merely lulls in a very long and aggressive march to impose an ideology. Study it and you just might quite rightly conclude that Islam is a personality cult run amok.

Obfuscation is the name of the Muslim PR game. Demand straight answers to your straight questions.

They've found the Europe's Achilles Heel in this multi-culti nonsense. Politicians worship the Trojan Horse they have allowed into the gates as the imagined solution to their unsustainable welfare state creations. They could not be more wrong.

Islam has waged a 1400 years war against the west. Why? Because their holy book tells them to. Islam must dominate the world. And remember - warfare comes in may forms. It is not necessarily two armies lined up facing each other.

People need to start waking up - and soon. 1400 hundred years of history is difficult to argue with. It's long past time to crack the books and do some homework.

Reputation and racism are not the same!!!!! The muslims have earned a bad reptuation and it isn't racism to recognize it. We didn't give them the reputation, they EARNED it!!!!!

Imagine, if you will, about 1000AD, an Englishman standing on the shore and noticing a fleet of long boats headed his way. In today's world he would have to say: "We must not do anything, for it is racist to realize that the last time they were here they killed most everyone."

If that Englishman somehow avoided death, his decendant woud some day work for the ACLU.

The Vikings had a bad reputation. Those who realized it, acted appropriately, and survived. The Scandinavians now have a good reputation. They changed their ways.

So....if certian ethnic groups have a bad reputation, they should work on changing it, not forcing the rest of us to turn a blind eye by caling our observance racism.

Things have gotten so bad that I would say to all immigrants in Scandinavia, that they will ALL be deported if they don't, as a group, clean up their act immediately!!!!

All Immigrant women should be sterilized after 2 kids. They are malignant breeders and are killing the entire planet with their huge families. This is not racism, it is observance of a reputation!!! (and undisputable statistics)

Our pets fixed because they are too stupid to know when to quit. Most educated people know that it is both socially and environmentally iresponsible to have more than two kids .

For those who are too stupid or ignorant to know any better, they need to be forced to be sterilized.

The earth is in such peril that the "choice" to have as many kids as you want should no longer be a choice. Having to file an environmental impact report for your potential family might educate the idiots.

Ignorance can be cured with education. Unfortunately, stupid is forever.